Big Black Cloud
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Big Black Cloud

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"South End Feature"

Big Black Cloud band members conveyed a celebratory energy at their dual CD release party with the band Noman at the Magic Stick Jan. 12.

An excited crowd of neighbors and fans packed the venue as the quartet from Detroit's Woodbridge neighborhood jumped to stage.

The melodic rhythms flowed through the venue and demanded the crowd's attention. Bassist Luke Schram harmonized with singer and guitarist Josh Costa with back up vocals and even switched to playing trombone at times. Andrew Davis bashed the drums with primal purpose as guitarist Spike Miller played intricate lines.

Perhaps the most notable thing about Big Black Cloud live is the how much these guys complement each other. No one in the band really stands out but the image and the sound come together perfectly.

Recorded in the White Room in downtown Detroit, where Davis also works as a sound engineer, the album "A Perfect Climate" is a series of recordings the band produced over the last year and a half.

"The CD is a culmination of all our recording efforts since the beginning," Davis said. "You can really hear the progression of us as a band and myself as a engineer."

Davis says "A Perfect Climate" was released on the band's own label God Sags His Pants Records, which fellow Woodbridge band Noman is also on. Davis says the band is proud of its do-it-yourself attitude, and the label is an extension of that.

Big Black Cloud is also working on a dual vinyl release with Noman for next year, which would all be recorded in analog.

The band lives together in the Woodbridge community, located only a few minutes from WSU. Davis recognizes the artist community as something special and unique.

"It's like a family," Davis said proudly.

Being part of the musical scene in Detroit is an important part of Big Black Cloud. From Davis recording other Detroit artists to Schram printing merchandise and posters for the area, the band feeds off the artistic spirit of the community.

"This sort of tight-knit communities is all we have in Detroit," Davis said. "I feel really strong that we are part of a community."

Davis expressed the next year will be a push to new heights for the band. He said the summer may involve a possible tour with Noman, music videos and forming new live elements.

"We have proven to ourselves in the last year that if we put our energies together, we can accomplish something," Davis said. - South End


"Real Detroit Feature"

“I hope God has a sense of humor,” Luke says, exaggerating a Southern twang in imitating postal workers who see their CD send outs. Big Black Cloud (Spike Miller, Josh Costa, Andrew Davis and Luke Schram) regale the back-story and mission of their own label, God Sags His Pants, a homegrown engine operating out of their Woodbridge house to propel their handmade, self-recorded releases. On January 12, BBC plays the Magic Stick in a joint-CD-release with their label mates, Noman, local punk revivalists who also help run the operation. Their sound’s a soft-slow burning onslaught of spindly guitars that barrel-roll you through dreamy, fuzzed landscapes that feel claustrophobic yet simultaneously boundless, the compositions are dense and time signatures are intricate, the dynamic crescendos can be downright cinematic. Josh and Spike form double-helix duets on guitar while Luke keeps a steady groove and Andrew flexes the realms of percussive possibility with influences in electronica.

The band started in the summer of '06: Josh and Spike (who’ve been playing together for five years), moving from their previous band, Hellen Keller, tapped the two rhythm players, Luke and Andrew, who happened to be living around the block from them, for potential experimental jams.

Big Black Cloud push away from “this blanket of stuff out there in the mainstream,” said Andrew, “… stuff that we don’t feel we fit in with, there is another way to do it!”

Luke, who majored in music at Indiana, described their dynamic in songwriting: “It was almost looked at as orchestral. I love rock because it’s accessible to people, but at the same time it’s become formulaic, contrived. And for these three, that wasn’t a part of the music — it was a way to make orchestral music, but make it in this setting.”

“I don’t remember how the writing process went [initially],” said Josh. “It was basically a few song ideas we had, then bringing it together as one.”

“There were different time signatures and we wanted to blend it,” said Spike.

“Yes, it takes longer to get into,” said Luke. “It changes so much, but it’s worth it.” | RDW

- The Real Detroit Weekly


"bust.com"

all the way from detroit, the boys from big black cloud are stopping by cake shop to play a show tonight with prince and pearl. super technical and experimental prog rock with a twist. pretty melodies mixed with constant tempo changes, bursts of energetic jams that will have your head nodding, and a taste of a subtle jazz vibe. you won't hear a song shorter than 5 minutes, but you won't be complaining. get ready to have your pants wooed right off, these guys are that good.

don't be lame. come out to the show, you won't be sorry. - bust.com


"CJAM 91.5 fm Music Review"

Big Black Cloud "A Perfect Climate"
We're here to support local music from Windsor and Detroit, right? Bands like Do Make Say Think, Mogwai, Broken Social Scene, and What Seas What Shores are popular among many of us, right? Well the new album from Detroit's Big Black Cloud reminds me of everything I love about these bands, and I'm confident that you will enjoy it too if you give it a chance. - CJAM 91.5 fm Windsor/Detroit


"Real Detroit Review"

Big Black Cloud
A Perfect Climate
God Sags His Pants

A thick, engaging listen. A challenging listen. A rewarding listen. Their odyssey-like debut features swarming, intertwining guitars that flit upwards like debris caught in a cyclone, lulling you into a kind of transcendence with bass grooves that mold exuberant currents with ominous overtones and tight, experimental percussion that aims for the preciseness of futuristic sequenced beats, but never sounding rigid, always loose, organic.

Big Black Cloud is a local quartet operating out of the Woodbridge community who run their own label, God Sags His Pants: strong on earnest passion and DIY sensibilities.

Deceptively, each song has structure, and set measures and discernable blueprints, which is probably why, when you lose yourself four minutes into “Merriweather” in the torrent of guitar pirouettes, it’s all the more mystifying. Their first written song, “Firehouse,” is the stand-out shorty at three minutes, featuring swift, fierce percussions, wavy bass grooves and errant, spindly guitar work. Their approach is unconventional, but anything they do — immeasurably drawn out crescendos, sparse lyrics, slow builds — sounds beautifully here, speaking commendably of the recording effort. — Jeff Milo
- The Real Detroit Weekly


Discography

"Big Black Cloud" EP
"A Perfect Climate" LP
Big Black Cloud/Noman split vinyl LP *FORTHCOMING*

All of "A Perfect Climate" is streamable on Last.fm and many tracks off the same record are getting airplay on college and independent/community radio stations throughout the country.

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Bio

Big Black Cloud uses guitars, horns, and drums to create landscapes, biographies, and other general life-affirming things. Songs rarely dip below 6 minutes in length, leaving ample space to explore different sounds that often create a cinematic soundscrape. In September of 2007, Big Black Cloud finished their first full-length album, an entirely self-produced endeavor entitled "A Perfect Climate." The drummer of the band, Andrew Davis, recorded and mixed the album at the historic Whiteroom Studios in downtown Detroit, while the package was screen-printed and sewn by Big Black Cloud at their home in the Woodbridge district of Detroit. The album was put out on the band’s own record label, God Sags His Pants Records (godsagshispants.com), which has been working hard to distribute and promote the album, as well as to book national tours, playing at such venues as the Cakeshop in NYC, the Lava Lounge in Pittsburgh, and South Union Arts in Chicago. In Detroit, they have performed at the largest non-corporate street fair in the country, The Dally in the Alley, as well as the Wyandotte Art Fair and local establishments like the Magic Stick, Small’s Bar and Northern Lights Lounge.